Coimbatore-based Consortium Clinical Research Pvt Ltd (CCR), a company engaged in clinical research operations with focus on clinical research training, clinical research project management and professional recruitment, is offering an exclusive post graduate diploma course in clinical trial management and regulatory affairs from this year.

P Ananda Padmanabhan, the director of CCR, said the course is focused on clinical trials & related subjects, and on completion of the program the candidates become employable in clinical research organizations. The period of the course is four months, 200 hours of lectures and practical classes.

According to information received from there, the Institute is starting this course to meet the acute shortage of trained and skilled manpower to work as Clinical Research Associates (CRAs) for the conduct of clinical trials as per international standards. There are reports of dearth of skilled and trained manpower in the clinical trial industry when India is all set to become an international hub of clinical research and trials due to several factors.

Students with Diploma or Graduate or Post Graduate in Medical Science & Allied Health Sciences, Biosciences or Life sciences or Pharmaceutical Sciences will be eligible to seek admission to the training program. CCR has designed the Course Curriculum and is engaging doctors and scientists from medical colleges, hospitals, CROs, pharma companies, research institutions and universities as faculty members to teach the students.

The fee for the course is Rs 25,000, and Consortium Clinical Research will supply all the study materials required for this training. Only 20 students will be admitted into one batch.

Those who come out of the Institute after completing the training programme, will be able to find employment as clinical trial associates, clinical research coordinators in leading pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies and CROs, support staff for investigators, hospitals, surveillance staff for sponsors, bio-statistical services to various clients involved with clinical trials, drug development centres, medical devices manufacturing companies and training institutions. They can also work as freelance consultants.

He said ,when clinical research has already become a well established field in America and European countries, it has recently emerged as an area of job opportunities in Asian countries, especially in India. According to him there are various factors that cater to the shifting of focus to India and the major ones are the available infrastructure facilities in the country, regulatory conditions as per the international standards, availability of expertise, increasing number of patients with myriad diseases and the cost effectiveness.

According to Mckinsey report, clinical trial industry in India is projected to be worth about US$ 1.5 billion and needing about 50,000 trained people by 2012.